The Russian and Romanian Jews who farmed the area beginning in 1905 arrived as refugees fleeing pogroms and persecution.

Despite this lack of experience and the many rocks and boulders that peppered their claims, with the assistance of their German-Russian neighbors, and hard work and persistence, the great majority of them were successful enough to buy their land outright prior to the five-year waiting period contained within the Homestead Act of 1862, or to own their land at the five year mark.

Though many remained as shopkeepers in the smaller towns in the Dakotas, a significant number chose to eventually move closer to larger Jewish educational and social centers.

They lived either in sod houses, made of earth and grass, or dug out holes in the ground and covered them with manure for protection against the elements.

[8] The site contains 22 monuments, with epitaphs inscribed in the Hebrew language and symbols meaningful in the Jewish religion, as well as unmarked graves.